Friends

Riley decided she needed some company on the couch (this was just before she got sick so I think she was already feeling pretty crummy)...

Have You Ever Seen Such a Happy Girl?

Passing the Time

It's cold (even by CA standards, they are predicting snow for our area on Saturday!) and rainy and I have a nasty respiratory virus.  I have been out sick all week, well I've been working at home all week except for today when I decided to just rest and get rid of this nastiness.  I went to the doctor yesterday and she told me I looked absolutely awful, she doesn't usually like to prescribe antibiotics since I am allergic to a whole list of them which limits what I can take but I clearly needed something.  I told her I felt like I got hit by a truck and she said I looked like it too, nice, huh?  It all started Monday night with a 103 fever and with my cough she was worried I was getting pneumonia, so I'm on z-pack and it seems to be working, I feel a bit better today.  The hardest part has been having a very active toddler who wants to be with me 24/7 and doesn't understand that Mommy is sick and doesn't have the energy for "Ashes" (also known as Ring Around the Rosie).  I also hate not being able to take care of everything and everyone, I'm usually the one who does everything but I have just been completely sidelined and have such guilt for not being able to spend time with Riley, give her a bath, cook her dinner.  And in my sick state I slipped and allowed her to have mac and cheese for 2 meals!  Of course she didn't tell me she had it for lunch because she wanted it for dinner too.  But hopefully I'm on the upswing and can get my make-up kisses from Riley that I've missed over the last 4 days.  And fortunately she seems to just have a little bit of the sniffles and a little bit of a cough, nothing like what I have, I am very miserable.  Anyway, since I am spending the day on the couch and nothing is on TV right now I decided to go through some pictures and found some cute ones (are there any other kind?) of Risers! 

I don't usually encourage this type of behavior but Riley was very proud of her new hat

Saying "cheese" of course

Riley's new love, olives, she can't get enough of them!

Counting her olives...

Olives, a math lesson: 6 - 1 = 5 olives left!

Rainy Sunday Fun

Sunday was the first cold rainy day that we've had in a long time so we took our time getting out of the house for our errands.  Riley took the opportunity to be the entertainment!  Riley loves bags so she has like 6 on her stroller to help her shop!

Going shopping!

Somebody's ready for Spring Training (and it's not me!)

My little bag lady!

Does it get any cuter than this? :)



Weeknight Fun

The other night when Marc got home Riley decided that she needed to tuck us in and get us ready for bed, I have ice on my lip because Riley wanted YaYa to go to sleep with us and threw her down and YaYa's head hit me in the mouth.  I instantly got a fat lip, with my boss' boss' boss coming into town, lovely.  Luckily my Cookie Monster ice pack worked and I just have a little cut now.  Good thing Riley is so stinkin' cute and said she's sorry and ran to the freezer to get me some ice.

Just Like Mommy

I was making breakfast on Sunday morning and it was WAY TOO quiet in the family room where Riley was and I found her like this...

Riley was trying to get some work done before we headed to Xavier's party

Work on a pink and purple laptop is FUN!

She wasn't getting into trouble after all!

Kermit Needs A Diaper Change

Riley decided that Kermit needed a diaper change...

If only Riley laid this still...

Diaper in position

Kermit apparently has a rash

Can't change a diaper without wipes

Wiping the tooshie

Putting the wipes away

Diaper time

YaYa's turn...

E.T. Phone Home

Marc got a toddler Sleep Sack for his White Elephant gift at work so we put it on Riley to see how it looked, no surprise it was too big and made her look like E.T.!

OCD?

I'll let you be the judge! This is the handy work of Little Miss Riley!

I got home from my business trip around Noon yesterday so I picked Riley up around 3:30 to spend a little extra time with her since I had been gone. She was so ecstatic to see me that she was EXTREMELY agreeable so I went with it and offered an early bath which meant early into her pjs and early into her slippers, and since she was just so happy that I was home she went with it even though it meant no outside. I took her little jumper out and told her she could ride her bicycle in the house so she was happy. I looked down a few minutes later and asked her where her slippers went and where Mr. Potato Head's feet were and she pointed to the stairs. We always leave our shoes on the stairs since we no longer wear shoes in the house, so Riley took her slippers (and Mr. Potato Head's feet) and lined them up ever so nicely next to Marc's slippers. (She also lines up her shoes very nicely in her closet each night.) Because even the almost-two year old knows that you don't wear shoes in the jumper, not even YaYa or Mr. Potato Head!

Refurbished

One of Riley's Hanukkah presents from my parents was a cradle for her baby. My mom refurbished the cradle that I had for my baby doll when I was a little girl and had some adorable bedding made. Riley (and "YaYa") are too very lucky little girls!

If...

If there are any questions as to whether Marc is really Riley's dad, this should pretty much cover it! (He used to think it was funny to ask for a paternity test, I think this is better than any blood test could ever be!)

Riley is so her daddy's daughter!!!

Photo courtesy of Ralsto, thanks for the laugh Red Dawg!

Shoes...

Way back when Riley started in the Toddler Room and we were told that she needed to wear shoes to school, Marc and I were really worried that she wouldn't like shoes because she essentially sleeps in shoes so she would basically be in shoes 24 hours a day. Boy were we wrong! The girl LOVES her shoes! I ordered her two new pairs from pediped two weeks ago (it was free shipping if you ordered over $75 worth of shoes so it was a no brainer, especially since I couldn't decide between two pairs!). I love their shoes for Riley; they are super durable, even the soft soled leather shoes that she used to wear outlasted her Stride Rite rubber soled shoes, and they are podiatrist approved (something I look for to help protect her million dollar feet), and most importantly they make SUPER cute styles in her little miniature foot shoe size. They also started carrying a line in between the soft-soled baby shoes and the big kid shoes called Grip N Go with a flexible sole and they happen to all be sized in the size 4 to 5 range, score! So I ordered Riley 2 pairs and when they came in the mail, I showed them to her to see if she liked them. Umm, yeah of course she did, they are shoes! She even backed up to pose for a few shots of her modeling her new shoes.

Modeling the first pair, these are still a bit big but should fit her this winter:

Modeling her second pair. The first pair of shoes that I ever bought Riley after she was done with full time brace wear was this same style, just with the soft bottom. I couldn't resist buying a bigger size, coincidentally, I bought that first pair nearly a year ago! These fit her now so she sported them this weekend!

Riley loves to put her shoes on herself (which can often be a long painful process when I'm trying to get out of the house) but here's she's pretty quick at it. Then she starts the clean up, she's actually very tidy. If a dresser or kitchen drawer is slightly open she says "uh-oh" and then closes it for us.

Rare Form

Riley was in rare form tonight. She has a little bit of a cold so she's been a bit cranky, which is unfortunate because we appear to be in a little teething lull right now, so while she was entertaining herself with her books in her room I escaped to go change out of my work clothes. When I returned this is where I found her; in her closet, sitting on a sand bucket. with every single pair of shoes that she owns around her as she tried one on at a time. At first she didn't know if I was going to get mad at her or not but when I started laughing she continued trying on her shoes for me and was even kind enough to pose and smile for the picture (unfortunately her "meme" is blocking her smile. I know, I know I need to break her of it but her teething has been so bad over the last month that I haven't had the heart to break her of the one thing that provides her comfort and peace and quiet for Momma and Dadda!).

Riley loves putting on her own shoes and she's actually quite good at it, she usually gets it on the correct foot and can loop the straps through the loops, probably because she likes to help with her "night night" shoes so she has lots of practice. This video isn't a great example of her mad skills, I think sitting on the bucket in the closet was throwing her off.

After trying on her shoes she decided that she needed to put a swim diaper over her clothes (and normal diaper), which she did by herself, somehow she even managed to put it on correctly (with the front in the front) and walked around saying "poopoo." I guess sometimes two diapers are needed and you can never be too safe! At one point she asked to go outside and I told her I didn't think it would be appropriate to go outside dressed like this.
























Then she needed to check for "poopoo"





















Just making sure...





















Yes, she was definitely in rare form tonight!